Nothing to loose, everything to gain
by Coenraad
Summary: Two years after Seina's wedding, an older man is dying and has made peace with that fact. Interference from Seina's sister and brother in law change his destiny.
1. Chapter 1: No need for Vacation

Do I really need to add a disclaimer to this? Think the URL of this website is evidence enough that I don't own jack.

Author Notes at the end of the chapter

* * *

Out in rural Okayama everything was quiet and calm except of course for the occasional loud crash which was the norm when Seina Yamada was around visiting his parents. He and his 9 wifes were enjoying a small vacation after having finished yet another large anti-pirate campaign orchestrated by none other than Lady Seto.

"You know, I'm really glad that you've come to visit Seina, I just wish you didn't cause the shelves to fall on my head." Kai, Seina's brother in law, lamented. His body height having stopped the said shelve unit from hitting Yoshiko.

Seina gave a weak chuckle as he rubbed the back side of his head while his wives, sister and mother just giggled. "I'm sorry Kai, even with my wife's I'm not completely cured of my rotten luck. But it's a lot better now then it was before I joined the GP."

"That's true" Kiriko agreed. "Speaking of the GP, why did you want of those recruiting pamphlets? You aren't thinking of joining the GP are you?"

"Kai and I haven't decided yet, but it is good to have the option." Yoshiko piped up causing Seina to frown a bit.

"But Yoshiko, Space is dangerous, and technically we aren't allowed to recruit people from earth."

"Lighten up Seina, they recruited you and with me being an Alien and Yoshiko being my future wife I doubt it would be a big deal. Besides I'm pretty sure there is already an exception in place because we did hold your wedding on the dark side of the moon in a space station."

Though Kai had a point, Seina wasn't really feeling it. Something was a bit off, he just couldn't place what. "Well alright, but try to let me know when you decide to join, we'll try to make it so that we would transport you to the GP academy."

"We will big brother."

From there the day descended into them having fun, with the usual chaos that comes with one guy being married to 8 wives. Plans were made to go visit the beach the following morning

Elsewhere on the outskirts of the town, up in the hills in a small lake side house, hidden behind a broom closet door that actually led to a subspace laboratory belonging to the greatest scientific mind in the known and unknown galaxy, patent still pending, Washi Hakubi was busy at work trying to analyze a weak and fluctuating signal. Almost like clockwork this signal would show up around five in the afternoon, persist for a few seconds then disappear again. She still couldn't triangulate it as her sensor net didn't cover the whole of Okayama, that and most of her sensors were aimed at the sky and horizon in advanced warning to any would be intruder or attacker from space.

"There it goes again, I really need to build a flying drone to go seek it out." she muttered to herself as she was typing away at her holographic computer while sitting on her floating cushion. On her Screen were several graphs representing the energy graph of light hawk wings, the energy graphs belonged to Tenchi and Seina, along with the unknown one she had recorded several times now over the last two weeks. The whole thing was rather low priority as the energy level of it was so weak, it was hardly a match for even her own daughter Ryoko, that and she had been busy with more important projects.

A telepathic message from her daughter however notified her that Sasami had dinner ready making her sigh and dismiss her terminal "I'll worry about this later." She said to herself. "Even The greatest Scientific mind in the whole universe can't work on an empty stomach." she cackled for a moment before deflating, It just wasn't any fun without anyone around to react to her.

* * *

The following morning as Seina and his wifes set out for the beach, Yoshiko and Kai said that they had to do something at the Yamada family store first and that they would see them at the beach. Seeing them off, Kai heaved a deep sigh. "I don't like fooling my sister, but I think we pulled it off."

"You can always claim that its payback for her not telling you about where you are really from, I don't think that I fooled my brother completely though."

Watching Yoshiko pick up her purse which held one of the GP pamphlets Kai heaved another sigh. "It is for a good cause I think." Offering his arm which Yoshiko took they set out towards the store. "At least NB wasn't around to interfere, where is he anyways?"

"Oh… he's around… somewhere." Yoshiko giggles as she hugs Kai's arm closer as they walk.

Back behind the house, under some bushes could be seen a rather large out of place rock with faint sobbing cries for Yoshiko emanating from underneath.

Down at the Yamada family store, a rather large and tall European was helping putting the advertisement signs and flags up for Mrs. Yamada. Though he looked out of place in Okayama, over the last two weeks his presence was slowly becoming the norm. He did most of the early-early morning busy work of helping to unload the delivery truck, Help stock the tall shelves and making the store ready for opening. For payment he just took some food to last him the day along with some paper napkins of all things.

They weren't really sure where he was staying, but then he wasn't asking for much considering all the work he did and he seemed to be well adjusted to the Japanese way of life even if his Japanese was a little bit on the horrible side with a very thick accent. The only saving grace was that his accent along with his height he wasn't mistaken for an American.

As Yoshiko and Kai approached they saw him putting up the last of the store's flags that lined the wall above the windows. "Good morning Ji." Yoshiko greeted him with a wave. Ji being the name he called himself, meaning old man or grandfather.

"Ah young Lady Yamada," He said as he turned to them, "a good morning we having yes? Taking trip with husband? Carry large bag is man job." Chuckling as he spoke in his broken Japanese.

"Don't encourage her, or I'll be carrying her bags till I'm gray like you." Kai piped up earning him a playful elbow in the side.

"Flip coin, maybe go gray maybe go bald. Flip second coin, maybe go both like I." Ji would run a finger thought his hair that thankfully still showed more of his natural dark blonde color then grey, as he leaned forward a bit to show a bland spot on the top of his head.

"I hope I still have a long time to go before that happens to me."

"Is my mother inside?"

"Yes Lady Yamada, you mother in back, doing books." With a slight bow of thanks Yoshiko went inside still holding her purse while Kai remained and chatted with Ji, Asking him about his home country some more.

While chatting however, Ji was hit with a slight coughing fit and he was quick to turn away from Kai. At least until he could cover his mouth and nose with a napkin. He was about to fold up the napkin when he was done when Kai stopped him to see a red splotch captured within. "It's getting worse isn't it?" he asked as he allowed him to fold the napkin up before putting it away in his pocket to dispose of later.

Ji let out a huff from his Nostrils "told you week ago, Is getting better never. Time I have, I not know."

"Shouldn't you be in a hospital?"

Frowning for a moment as he thinks of how to answer, Ji would shrug his shoulders "Do what? Lay around, told no can do anything? No, staying on own two feet till die."

"There might..." Kai started somewhat hesitantly "be a way to cure you…"

"This I want hear."

"It's complicated but… GP, Galaxy Police, look for that."

Looking rather skeptical and confused Ji would shrug his shoulders at Kai "You not make sense."

"I know but trust me it will. Just make sure you remember that."

"Ok Mister Masaki, I say you sell false hope to old man, but Ji will remember."

"That's all I ask." Kai said as he saw Yoshiko come out of the store carrying Ji's backpack.

"Here Ji, I packed the usual in it for you." She said as she presented it to him.

"Many thank." he said as he took it from her and hefted it over one of his shoulders "Tell you Mother I be back next day."

As Ji walked off to wherever he was staying, Kai turned to Yoshiko "Did we do the right thing?"

"I believe so, I put the pamphlet in his back pack, and the rest lies with him."

"Let's not do this too often."

"Agreed."

* * *

Two blocks away and heading out towards the town's outskirts the man calling himself Ji to the locals was muttering to himself in his own language. "Guess it's a good sign that people seem to care so much but what on earth is a galaxy police? Maybe some sort of sci-fi show? Ah who cares, no point in getting my hopes up."

Coming to a stop along some hedge rows, Ji looked down either side of the road before slipping between them, walking up the grass field towards the forested area. Deeper inside that forest was an old rundown shack, a tarp covering the roof as it had a hole in it, and another one acting as a doorway. Inside the shack was an old sleeping bag that had seen better days but it was warm and comfortable even on the wooden floor which has seen some recent repair and replacement boards.

Sitting down on the edge of the deck on the outside of the shack Ji took a deep breath and sighed. "Home sweet home." Lowering his backpack beside him, he opened it to reach for a cup of instant noodles and a water bottle blindly, using the shape of an object and the touch of the material to tell him what he had grabbed. His hand lay across a board shape and the material felt too smooth to his touch, so smooth in fact that he didn't recognize it. Digging it out of his pack he looked at the mystery item.

"Looks like a see through plastic board." Remarked before turning it over, spotting the words 'galaxy police' in western script and a stylized logo beneath it taking up one of the corners. With a raised eyebrow he turned the plastic board around again remarking that the printings on the front weren't visible from the back. "Weird, some sort of one way lamination?" he'd look at the top of it to notice that it seemed to be hinged like a western book. Opening it revealed writing unlike any he's ever seen before but a few of the pictures shown looked interesting.

Some sort of structure in presumably low orbit, a funky looking ship design in high orbit of a planet, a women with purple hair in blue and orange clothing and a land mass bordering water. The left page was covered with only text with a background image and finally 3 empty lines and an empty box. "This has to be some sort of application form…" looking at the back cover again he again was mystified by the fact that the content of the plastic book was not visible from the outside. Brushing his thumb along the black lines he noticed that the texture was slightly rough like paper, no doubt to let ink stick better.

_There might be a way to cure you. GP, Galaxy Police, look for that._ The words spoken by the young man Kai resounded through his head. He had to wonder about all this; was it some sort of elaborate scam or hoax? Maybe but the Yamada and Misaki family don't seem to be the type. Then again most scam artists didn't seem like scam artists. How old were those two again, 17 or 18 years old maybe? What were youngsters like that doing with space age plastic application forms, and why be so vague about it? It just didn't add up. With a shake of his head, Ji placed the application to the side as he dug up his bottle of water and instant ramen noodles, deciding to worry about it after he had eaten and gathered more firewood for tomorrow.

Later that evening found Ji sitting inside the shack looking at the application again. And his mind had been made up over the course of his usually day to day chores. Be it a scam or not he had nothing of value, all that having been left behind when he traveled to Japan. And considering that he was dying anyway, he didn't feel like he had anything to loose and yet everything to gain if by some remote chance all of this was above board. Filling in his name, date of birth and gender, as he assumed that's what they wanted. He chuckled slightly at the name he had written down, Ji Nanashi, Old man Nameless a name that suited him just fine.

The little square he assumed was for a name stamp as the Japanese were often fond of using as a signature. Lacking that or an ink pad, he bit the corner of his bottom lip and with a slight wince he drew blood. Coating his thumb with it he pressed his thumb down inside the scare. "Sign on the dotted line in your blood." He muttered to himself. If some recruiter didn't come to him about the Japanese name used by a European or the fact that he had used blood instead of ink he would be very surprised indeed. But just where did he have to go to hand this in?

The surprise was on him as he held a napkin up to his lip when he saw the box where he had put his bloody thumbprint light up blue for a moment. Lighting effects? He was pretty sure that he didn't see a battery or any electrical circuitry running through the plastic. Or maybe there were one way visible too covered by the page content? With a shake of his head he closed the application and threw it down to his bed as he prepared to go to sleep.

* * *

Author Notes: Oh boy, it's been a long time since I posted anything on here. So yeah, this story plays about 2 years or so after the events of Tenchi Muyo GXP and yes it is a bit of a self insert story. I can already hear people moaning and groaning about how 'original' that concept is. In truth I'm just writing this because I'm bored, and if you enjoy it; great. And if you hate it; just skip on by, that's what I do when reading stories on here.

Excuse the awful dialog from Ji in the start of the story. I'm trying to keep the story in English no matter what language the characters are supposed to be using. The bad dialog is an attempt to reflect the fact that a character isn't fluent in the language used. However I'm not planning to do that very often.

The original idea for this story came about when I wondered what would happen if a more mature person would go through the same sort of thing as Seina, minus the bad luck or being Tsunami's gift to women.

Anyways, See you in the next one.


	2. Chapter 2: No need for Combat

Do I really need to add a disclaimer to this? Think the URL of this website is evidence enough that I don't own jack.

* * *

In a dark room holding a single comfortable bed with two occupants we find a mocca skinned women with gentle blue eyes and bright blonde hair tied with a red ribbon sitting on the edge of it as she looks down at a man who's sleeping. "So soft" she remarks as her fingers running gently through the occupant's dark blonde and grey hair. It isn't long until her actions start to wake the man up. His cobalt blue eyes crack upon to track the hand in his hair to meet the woman's. He opens his mouth to say something but whatever he was going to say is disrupted as he is hit by a deep coughing fit that causes him to bolt out of the bed only to double over onto his knees.

Behind him the women gets up to kneel beside him and pat his back to try and soothing. But with his left hand he tries to wave her off and get her to stop as it was only making matters worth. Thankfully the women seemed to comprehend and stopped trying to help, instead watching on with slight worry as the man slowly gains control of himself and his coughing. By now his hand is stained with red tinted mucus which causes the women to offer him a disposable napkin. "Are you ok?"

"I will be…" is the rough sounding reply as the man pushes himself up onto the edge of the bed to catch his breath and clearing his throat a few times. "Sorry you had to see that, but who are you?"

"I'm Mitoto Kuramitsu, Sanitation Engineer for the GP." Behind her a door opened to reveal a man with slightly darker skin then Mitoto wearing a uniform with a rounded hat featuring a K on it and a red dot on the middle of his forehead. "And you are?"

"Ji Nanashi, Good Morning!" the just arrived man speaks, answering Mitoto's question with his greeting. "While you are here I will be your guide."

"Guide?" Ji wondered "Guide for what?"

The said guide moved to give him a smart salute "Congratulations on your acceptance to the GP academy."

"So this isn't some elaborate hoax or scam?"

The guide cleared his throat as he opened the application pamphlet he was carrying, showing it to Ji. "This is your name and hand writing isn't it?"

"Well… Kinda…"

"And this is your thumb print?"

"It is."

"Then there is nothing to explain, you are now a member of the GP." The Guide would close the pamphlet and tuck it under his arm. "To tell you the truth this is the first time I've seen someone put down their thumb print using blood but there is nothing in the regulations against that. Now normally I would record a farewell video of your family but you were alone and I couldn't find any contact information. Do you have any family we should notify?"

Ji shook his head at the guide. "It's complicated but the simple answer would be no."

The guide looked somewhat disappointed "That's a shame, I so do love recording and editing them into my own personal master pieces."

"Right…" While Ji and the guide were speaking; Mitoto had taken the napkin and disposed of it after which she came back to sit a respectable distance from Ji to resume stroking his hair which Ji seemed to ignore or not really care about. "So what is this place?"

"The VIP quarters aboard a GP transport cruiser, this will be your room until we arrive at GP headquarters."

"Transport cruiser?"

Hitting a button on his wrist, the guide pointed up as a lid like mechanism started to lift up allowing more light into the room which revealed that the top of the room was a dome showing a star field. With Eyes wide Ji took in the vastness of space, it looked so majestic without the light pollution from all the cities back on earth.

The guide and Mitoto chuckled at that, having seen a similar look on Seina's face a few years ago. "Trust me, you haven't seen nothing yet, let me show you the bridge."

"Ok, let me just get my shoes on." After quickly putting them on and tying his laces Ji excited the VIP room into a long hallway, where the Guide and Mitoto were waiting on them. "Never thought I'd be on a space ship." He remarked as he walked along, following the guide with Mitoto to his right. "I'm a little surprised at the large sky window of the VIP quarters, aren't windows considered structural weaknesses?"

"We actually don't need windows" Answered Mitoto as she pressed a small button at the bottom of her left wrist causing the walls of the corridor to change and show space around the ship.

"Wow… this is Amazing."

The guide stopped walking as Mitoto and Ji had. Turning to them and pressing his finger into the wall and making a white window appear he said "Perhaps you'd like a more familiar setting." What followed was a small window in the wall to appear and show a space view of earth.

Ji chuckles slightly "Oh the view around me currently is more familiar then you'd think." He'd point over his shoulder with his thumb "That's Saturn right there."

"Ah you know your local system well lets continue on to the bridge."

Once on the bridge a large projection started to play some recording, opening with an explosion and ships flying out to reveal a glossy GP logo painted upon their hull platings. A small fleet was demonstrated as some narration was jabbering on giving details about the GP while the ships punctured the armor of a black and red ship adorned with the skull and crossbones before it blew up. The scene of the recording switched to an urban firefight with one officer bravely running out from cover to shoot a bad guy hiding behind the hood of a car. Then it switched to some subterranean vehicle followed by a submarine. Then a male model shooting a gun from the side, another blonde male model from the front slashing what could perhaps be a swords then a scene with a redhead women with pointed ears putting some sci-fi cuffs on a shady looking guy. The scene then again switching to a male officer who was receiving an accommodation, the accommodation not quite fitting over his head but as he turned to face the camera it revealed the right side of his body covered with accommodations. Again the scene switched as the narrator kept droning on about the GP to a girl crying over a balloon stuck in a tree with a male model coming in and making a spectacle about using a 'magic hand' to help reach the balloon to the girl.

It was at this point that Ji groaned and turned away from the display. "Please, just stop." thankfully they did stop the advertisement.

"You didn't like the recruitment video?" the guide asked.

"Oh it is very nicely done, but let me guess; 25% truth, 75% bullshit."

"I think it's more like 20% truth 80% nonsense." One of the bridge crew piped up.

"None of the people shown are real GP officers just minor movie stars that look good." Added another.

"It took that one guy 20 takes before he could get that balloon out of the tree." Said the third, and final, member of the bridge crew.

The guide and Mitoto just had a sweat drop running down the side of their face. "Well… if we didn't make it look good we would barely get any recruits." Supplied the guide as he snapped into a salute. "Regardless Cadet Ji, welcome. You are one of us now."

Mitoto smiled as she closed her eyes and saluted him while the 3 bridge crew members stood up and saluted as well as the latter 3 said "Congratulations and Welcome to the galaxy Police!"

With a smirk Ji returned the salute "Thrilled to be here."

"Alright, let's prepare the ship for hyper space jump." Ordered the guide, this caused the bridge crew to spring into action calling out system statuses and the like among themselves.

"So Captain, I take it this hyper space jump is a faster then light traveling method?" Ji wondered as he took a seat on one of the seats that was vacant on the bridge.

"That is correct; you seem to understand a fair bit already."

"Well not really, more like I understand the concept behind a hyper jump. It's been used in some science fiction shows we have on earth but the actual application or technology required to achieve it is beyond me."

"You will learn all this at the academy."

Glancing over at the bridge crew and their controls Ji asked "So how do you control the ship? I don't see any control scheme I recognize."

"Easy," started the center man of the bridge crew who had just laid in a course. "I just punch in what heading I want or the destination I want and the ship will turn in that direction on its own. We also have inertia dampeners that will make it so we don't feel the ship turn and move and makes the ship fly in the direction the nose is pointed automatically."

"That's neat and rather simple but doesn't that hamper your control in combat situations."

"What would you suggest we use instead Cadet." The guide wondered. "We've been using this system for quite a while now."

"Well maybe a flight stick, throttle and rudder pedal as used by aircraft back on earth? I would think directly telling the ship to turn left while the ship figures out how to do that would be a bit faster than figuring out where to turn too before then telling it to make the turn in that direction." Ji gave a shrug before he continued. "Correct me if I'm wrong though, I must seem like some sort of cave man compared to all of you."

"Don't worry, the GP encourages forward thinking if it helps improve things. While your idea may have some merit, it would mean then someone would have to constantly be at the controls of such a system which may lead to fatigue faster."

"Then don't use it all the time, use the system you have now when everything is calm and the direct control system when you need the rapid response."

"I like your idea and we could implement such a system in a matter of seconds." Said the right most crew member. "Unfortunately none of us would even be remotely proficient using such a system."

"And you guys want to risk putting a fresh cadet at the controls of a cruiser, I understand."

The conversation about such things kept going as the preparations for hyper jump continued even through the countdown. The only way Ji could tell was that the star field disappeared while in hyper space. Casual banter continued as Ji decompressed from all the revelations which finally gave him the time to wonder why everyone was speaking his native language, which is when he was told about the automatic translators everyone except for him. To the amusement of everyone he called it a babble-fish. But that amusement was cut short as a shock rocked the deck plate of the ship.

"Energy Surge, Large battleship right in front of us!"

"Get us out of here!" on the guide's orders the ship dropped out of hyper space but not quite scot-free.

"There is no need to worry, I'm sure there are many vessels traveling this sector" Mitoto said which obviously the guide didn't agree with.

"Mitoto this has happened before, battleships are likely to be pirates like that time we transported Seina remember?"

"Oh right, better check the communication system!"

"Already did, it has not been activated" said one of the bridge crew. "I guess not all earthlings have rotten luck like Seina."

"And I didn't detect that battleship dropping out ahead of us, we are free and clear this time!" another cheered. "We are off target by 3 light years and have minor damage to aft cell drive, no lockdowns or hull breaches detected."

"Well thank Tsunami for that. Get us back on course, Cadet Ji this will take some time but nothing for you to worry about, why don't you go and get some rest?"

"Considering that I woke up about two hours ago, I think that's going to be a no go. So I'll just keep sitting here if that's alright with you. I learn best from just watching anyways."

"Alright."

* * *

Unbeknownst to the crew of the GP cruiser, the system was busier then they initially thought. Several battle cruisers were already in the area. One such battle cruiser was adorned with the skull and cross bones of a pirate band which had detected the cruise drop out of hyper space. The star in this system was throwing out ionizing radiation that easily hid ships the size of battle cruisers if they kept their maneuvering thrust low.

On the Pirate ships bridge the captain was chuckling. "Well what do you know? A small GP cruiser, I guess it's better than nothing considering how quiet it's been all week. Helmsmen, approach the cruiser from the stern, maintain only 10% of maximum thrust I don't want them to detect us until it's too late. Gunnery lock target on their Jump drive and hold fire until we are two kilometers out, I don't want them to be able to jump away."

Cheers from the pirates went around along with acknowledgements as everyone got ready to play their part. Many expressing their desire for riches, others for women, one or two of the more unhinged ones cried for GP blood.

* * *

On another ship on the other end of the system, eyes were kept on the cruiser as it dropped out. they detected that the small GP cruiser had minor damage but nothing that they couldn't fix themselves. It wouldn't do to give their position away at this point in time if it wasn't needed afterall.

* * *

On the bridge of the GP cruiser, the bridge crew were supplying information as well they could as Ji asked the occasional question about this or that, or when he was asking if he understood something that was being done correctly which already showed his eagerness and ability to learn. It was harmless banter that didn't get in the way of anyone's duties but this quickly stopped as the ship was rocked by an explosion from the aft section. Which set Ji tumbling as he wasn't seated like the rest was. The helmsmen reacted by slamming the ship in full forward speed to try and out run the enemy they didn't see.

"REPORT!" Bellowed the guide

"Hull breach in drive bay, our jump drive is out of commission, sunlight engines unaffected at this time!" the helm reported

"Hostile battleship directly behind us." The sensor man said

"How did we not detect them before!?"

"It must be all the background radiation; I could only detect them the moment they went to full thrust."

As this was going on Ji manged to stand up despite the bump on his head and sit down as he caught a glimpse of red streaks shooting past the left side view screen. "Well crap…" he remarked.

"Energy net straight ahead!"

"Hard to port!"

"Turning! Net evaded! Oh wait a sec, multiple energy nets ahead, reducing speed."

Leaning in towards Mitoto Ji asked while trying not to interfere with the bridge crew "shouldn't we be keeping our speed up to try and outrun those pirates?"

"I would agree but the reduction in speed is to give the helmsmen more time to plot evasion courses." She answered.

"Which allows the pirates to catch up, it's a catch 22."

"Cadet Ji!"

"Yes sir!?"

"That direct control method you talked about, are you able to control a ship with that?"

Blinking Ji nodded "I can but isn't that a bit dangerous? Letting a cadet fly the ship?"

"Set it up!" the guide ordered his bridge crew which cause the engineer to start making it. "Yes you are right, but right now we have no real ability to run and if those pirates or energy nets get us we'll be in even more dangerous. Just avoid hitting anything."

"Right."

"System ready Captain, adding it to his chair." The engineer reported.

3 glowing squares appeared on Ji's chair. One on each of his chairs arm rests and one right in front of his feet. What materialized were a rather smooth and simple looking joystick on his right, a similarly smooth and simple looking throttle lever and near his feet were two pedals for his feet. He wasted no time putting his feet on the pedals and his hands on the stick and throttle. He advanced the throttle and used the rudder and stick to steer the nose of the ship past the nets while gaining ground on the battleship. The initial maneuver was a bit shaky but that's because Ji didn't know what sort of sensitivity the controls were set to, but he quickly adjusted to the settings.

* * *

On the third ship in the system the opening salvo of the pirates was detected along with the battleship itself as it trusted forward full power. Its green haired red eyed owner gritted her teeth as she ordered her own ship forward to intercept the pirate scum. She could only hope that there weren't any casualties on the small cruiser and that they could keep ahead of the pirates.

She was surprised when she noticed a distinct change in how the cruiser moved and steered. While its speed seemed to flag it had now picked up again. And it steered in somewhat sharper curves to the point where it fish tailed noticeably. Surprise gave way to intrigue as she saw the small cruiser dodge energy nets and weapons fire alike. A few times she saw the small ship move like a corkscrew to evade torpedo's that were fired at it, said torpedo were harmlessly self-destructing as they overshot and lost tracking.

"Prepare my calling card!" she bellowed to her crew and attendants. "Fire as soon as we are in range of that pirate ship!" she laughed in glee in the prospect of capturing yet more pirate scum. "Oh and prepare a message for that GP cruiser, I am very interested to meet its pilot."

* * *

On the pirate ship itself, things weren't going that great. They had hit the mark but failed to take out the cruisers sublight drives. Plus the way that little ship was dodging the nets and the incursion torpedo's were starting to annoy them to no end.

"What are you doing you fools! They are getting away!" its captain shouted. "Fire everything we have! I don't care if we end up vaporizing that ship! Just make sure you hit it! Fire all torpedo's!"

* * *

"More Torpedo's! 5 no… 12… 23… A lot of them!" the sensor operator yelled out.

"More energy nets straight ahead!" the helmsmen followed up.

Using his controls, Ji's knuckles were turning white with how tightly he was gripping the stick and throttle. Behind him somewhat holding onto his chair Mitoto was doing her best to keep the sweat that was starting to appear on his forehead from going into his eyes.

The guide was sitting in his chair not able to do much. The amount of ordinance fired worried him. But what was worrying him even more was how heavily the cadet was breathing. Ragged almost bubbling and gurgling breathes. While none of them were affected by the inertia his maneuvers were invoking, the adrenalin from the life or death situation obviously was. Something had to give, and he dreaded when that moment came.

* * *

Breathlessly the female commander of the third ship watched as the pirate ship seemed to throw every last torpedo it had at the cruiser. The cruisers flight path was littered with explosions be it from self destructs or direct hits she couldn't tell. "We are in range!" one of her subordinates shouted.

* * *

With clenched teeth the pirate captain and his gunner saw the cruiser having survived their full load of torpedoes. their stock depleted on this one tiny craft caused the gunner to scream in rage and smash his fist through the torpedo targeting display while the captain pulled at his hair.

"Captain, Incoming signal!"

"What!" before questions could be asked on what the signal was, their whole ship seemed to shutdown and go dark. The center display that normally showed the outside of space displayed the single most frightening combination of 3 letters known to Pirates across the galaxy. "The Triple Z…" the captain muttered as he collapsed into his seat, eyes wide in terror.

* * *

Likewise in the GP cruiser, power was lost as the view screen sprang into static and displayed ZZZ. The crew cheered as Ji pulled at his controls, getting somewhat desperate when he got no response at all. Before panic could set in Mitoto put her hands on his "Its ok, we are safe now."

In front of them a bright green portal sprang into existence and a ship started to rise out of it. "The Mikagami!" the guide sounded very relieved. "A very welcome Ally."

"_Here ye all ships, by the order of lady Seto of Jurai you have here by been arrested for the crime of piracy!"_

"Is this lady Seto an ally?"

"Yes, she's the Devil Princess of Jurai."

"What?"

"Sorry I miss spoke, Seto is head of the royal family so is also the head of the military."

A private transmission screen popped up on the bridge showing the Jurian communications tech. _"Greetings, Lady Seto has wants you to know that we will be conducting repairs to your ship to help you on your way. Also my Lady was very impressed by your flight maneuvers and would very much like an audience with you and your pilot aboard the Mikagami."_

"I'm honored but you see we are very busy and~"

"_It wasn't a request."_

The guide slumped a little bit and glances over to Ji whom was leaning back in his chair, eyes closed as he tried to steady his heavy breathing. Mitoto was fussing over him, handing him some napkins while using a few to dab his forehead. Before the guide could speak Ji shot forward in his seat and started to hack and cough which of course caught everyone's attention. The napkins were quickly stained red and Mitoto gave out one after the other while a bin was placed beside them to catch the red stained napkins. Whatever condition he had was obviously aggravated by combat.

The view of the Juraian Communications specialist was replaced by Lady Seto herself as she was also able to hear what was going on. _"Prepare for emergency medical teleport!" _In a show of light, Ji disappeared from the bridge of the cruiser as Lady Seto supervised something off screen. _"I'll see you both on my ship."_ She said after a moment before disconnecting.

* * *

Aboard the Mikagami, Technicians and tactical experts were already going over the recorded footage of the cruisers maneuvers. The black box and log information from the cruiser were added as it was downloaded and made available to add context and show what the ship systems were doing. Arguments broke out as the data didn't make much sense, the control inputs were all over the place. Technicians working inside the cruiser to get its jumpdrive replaced were notified and asked to have a look inside the systems. The modified control program was located and downloaded. Technicians went to the bridge and took note of the modified controls that were used. All of this combined cleared up any arguments aboard the Mikagami as the data was now being interpreted correct.

"Anything to report?" Lady Seto asked as she came by on her way to the medical wing.

"My Lady, we've managed to determine why the ship was fish tailing in its maneuvers." The head technician reported as he showed a graph. "According the readings, the lateral thrusters were unable to keep up with the aggressive course changes to the point where forward thrust was starting to aid the change in vector."

"I see, so GP cruisers are lacking in Lateral thrust that should be easy enough to address."

"No my Lady, you shouldn't. it is this fish tailing that allowed it to evade all those torpedoes."

"I beg your pardon."

"Torpedoes are simple devices with a complicated task. They calculate where the target is and where it is going based on a speed reading. Then it puts itself on an intercept course. This calculation is made based on the assumption that the ship is always flying in the direction it is pointing. Because the ship is skidding as it were, the direction its nose is pointing is not actually where it will be going this is causing the torpedo's to miss on the inside of the maneuver. They detonate as a result of having lost the target, a safety feature to avoid torpedoes retargeting a friendly on accident."

"I see… and the chair?" Lady Seto nods up at one of the view screens displaying where Ji had sat in before being transported for medical treatment.

"Well… With the current control systems on our ships we have nowhere near the needed controls to pull off those maneuvers. The engineer aboard the GP cruiser called it a 'fly by wire' system. The pedals controlling yaw, the little stick on the right controlling pitch and roll and the sliding lever on the left controlling engine output. By moving the stick to the left a certain amount, you are telling the ships computer to roll left at a certain rate, the ship decides how to make itself roll left at that rate."

"That is quite an unusual system."

"I agree my Lady, but not unknown to us. It is a system many military aerospace craft on earth utilize. We've always dismissed as primitive it as we didn't see the benefits when we recreated it."

"Until now…"

The Technician nodded slowly. "Until now, seeing what it can do in the hands of someone experienced in its use."

"Would it be possible to replace all our ships controls with that system?"

"It certainly is but I would recommend against replacement, the system doesn't allow you to just let go of the controls. One accidental bump and you can go off course. Not something you'd want in a busy area or shipyard. No someone needs to be in constant control of that system as it overrides a lot of automatic accident avoidance measure we have in place with our system. At best I would advise it as a possible temporary addition during combat. But to use it effectively we'd need specialist pilots trained to use it."

"I see, carry on."


	3. Chapter 3: No need for Secret Agenda's

Do I really need to add a disclaimer to this? Think the URL of this website is evidence enough that I don't own jack.

* * *

"How is our patient doing?" asked lady Seto as she walked into the medical wing. The head doctor coming up to walk beside the lady and guide her towards the tank holding said patient.

"He's stable for now, we've stopped the bleeding from his lungs without real treatment he'll expire at around in Three month's time." Coming to a stop shows a tank filled with green liquid in which Ji floated, an oxygen mask covering his face and nose with tubes going down into his lungs and stomach. Time had been so critical; they had placed him in there without taking off his clothes. Just sedated, tubes shoved in, mask trapped on and splash.

"Three month's only? Is his ailment so severe?"

"No my Lady, scans show he's an earthling. With the exception of Seina Yamada, the rules governing primitive societies prohibit us from doing more. I would even say that doing this much would be against the rules. Only leeway we have right now as that it wasn't known to us at the time that he was an earthling."

"I see. When can he be taken out of the tank?"

"As soon as he wakes, which is anywhere between four to six hours."

"Very well, keep me informed, I want to know the moment he wakes up."

"As you wish my Lady."

* * *

Time passed, on the fifth hour Ji begun to awaking from the sedative. He didn't know what happened, one moment he was coughing up a lung from the seat he was using to fly the cruiser, then next he was enveloped by a green light show and had something touch his neck before the world faded to black. He felt himself floating in liquid and opening his eyes he noticed the mask covering his nose and mouth. The hardest part was feeling the two tubes that were shoved down his throat. His first thought was to get out of there. He couldn't see anyone around him, and he couldn't find a release for whatever container he was in. it was a little hard to move as well inside the liquid so he couldn't really tap on the glass or whatever it was to get anyone's attention.

With a deep sigh his attention turned inward, reaching a semi-meditative state as he touched upon an inner essence. Though small it may be, it was his trump card. And he was channeling it to his right fist.

* * *

Meanwhile Inside Lady Seto's throne room and Control seat to the Mikagami, a screen displaying some of Ji's information was being shown. "And here we go again, policy of course forbids earthlings but Ji's skills are special. He may not share Seina's Cuteness, but seems to make up for it with his wizened looks. I think I'll make a second exception just for him."

Kanemitsu who was standing beside Seto sighted "Wizened looks, gray hair is usually just a sign of old age. While I admit that it's a rare thing to see, one has to wonder why someone that old would want to join the GP in the first place."

"My my Kane, is something bothering you?"

"I have some worries as well Lady Seto," spoke Minaho before her uncle could say something. "We have been searching the earth based information net and we found no record at all on him. No one named Ji Nanashi, no family, no history no nothing. We can't even find who gave him the application other then the fact that it came out of a set of two requisitioned by Seina Yamada to give to his sister. I doubt either of them would be foolish enough to hand it to a random earthling."

"Never mind the fact that he seems to be terminally ill and close to expiring," Continued Kanemitsu "I'd say that he's a security risk. He could possibly be a pirate on a suicide mission."

"Such suspicions, while it is true that the lack of information on him is a little concerning, even if he was a pirate, no pirate can fly like that. Even the old ship wheels they use are only symbolic and they are only used to set a heading same as we do, they certainly don't affect their ships directly." Seto took this moment to pull out her paper fan to cover her mouth with as she smiles "Regardless his flying skills are something I want for the GP and Jurai. The rest we~" her speech cut off as her tree ship informed her of something, something that required immediate attention. "Show me the tank holding Ji Nanashi! Now!"

The screen changed as ordered showing Ji with what seemed to be a glowing blade coming from his clenched right fist. Drawing his arm back he slammed it into the surface of the tank causing the green liquid to drain. Moving his arm to the side he pulled back before slamming it back forward to create a second cut and after that another to create a triangle opening. The blade dissipated before he climbed out and once out of the tank he removed the mask and pulled out the two tubes causing him to cough and dry heave.

"Light hawk wing… It is small but it was definitely a light hawk wing!"

"Well that changes things…" Minaho muttered.

"And it can't be good…" Kanemitsu added.

Seto despite having heard that headed out of her throne room.

* * *

In the medical wing, alarms were going off as Ji was sitting on the ground heaving deeply, slightly amazed at the fact that he hadn't been coughing up blood again after he pulled the tubes out. Currently he was just breathing hard because calling forth that energy blade always tired him out pretty bad. That and the mask wasn't exactly forthcoming with the extra amount of oxygen he needed for that in the first place.

From the door he was facing came someone running in wearing a white coat whom was obviously upset. "Oh nononono! You are just as bad as the Military grunts, always destroying my precious rejuvenation chambers when they wake up!"

"Couldn't find a way out, or attract anyone's attention so I made myself a way out, sorry about that. Maybe put a latch on the inside of the next one you build?" Ji remarked.

"Well if you're well enough to be a smart allic, you are well enough to show yourself out while I go find someone to clean up the mess you made!" the Doctor bellowed before spinning on his heel and walk out of the room.

"Sure thing Doc." He replied to the man's back as he slowly stood up and tries to shake the green liquid out of his shoes and pants, taking off his shirt he wrings it out which turned out to be a mistake as the liquid had stained it now. "Ah man… this was my favorite shirt, now I need to hunt down new clothes."

"Maybe I can assist with that." Came a new voice from the doorway.

Glancing up he saw a woman with light green hair and red eyes in some sort of robe holding up a paper fan that she was glancing over the edge of.

* * *

After some embarrassing remarks about his physique from someone who looked like she could be his daughter if he had started very young, Ji had been led to a special room where several servants, both male and female alike fuzzed over him, outfitting him with a Juraian robe at the insistence of Lady Seto. Most of what they tried ended up being too heavy to be comfortable. Until they achieved a happy medium of 3 light layers that is light and didn't restrict his movement yet still looked regal. Even if it was a little too regal for his own tastes, Ji was at least comfortable wearing it. They also quickly groomed him, he still had a mustache and beard but at least it wasn't the mess it was prior.

Right now he was in Lady Seto's throne room as she walked around him inspecting the work of the servants. "You clean up well, though the robe looks a bit simplistic." She remarked as she returned to her seat.

"Well I'm a rather simple man in that respect; I would have preferred a simple pair of jeans and a T-shirt. But this I can live with."

"Mmm well there is reason for you to wear such finery but first we need to discuss a few things."

"I'll try to answer whatever question you have to the best of my ability, my Lady." He'd say with a slight bow.

"Good then could you explain to me why there is no record of you anywhere? As far as I can tell, the man standing before me as Ji Nanashi doesn't exist."

"Ah… You are right, Ji Nanashi doesn't exists, I kind of wanted people to forget I existed, so I started calling myself Old man No name as sort of a joke. My real name is Herman Mulder. I would still prefer Ji Nanashi though."

The girls working at terminals behind Ji started to pull up the relevant information which showed up promptly. "Herman Mulder, age 41, of Dutch Nationality. Diagnosed with lung cancer, treatment not possible, has missed all appointments for checkups and admittance into hospital, presumed missing. Last check was several months ago. Surviving kin, 1 younger sister~"

"Enough." Ji said to the operator behind him. "For all intents and purposes I have no surviving family, at least none that I want to be associated with."

"We shall respect your wishes in that matter." Seto glanced at her operator. "Now tell me where did you learn to fly like that?"

"I used to play a lot of Combat simulators. Both atmospheric and space based. To be good at those simulators you have to really get used to flying like that."

"And the maneuver that you used to evade the torpedoes, what is it called?"

"Usually people call it a barrel roll, a roll that follows the outer circumference of a barrel. But due to some modern entertainment the name has become a bit muddied. Now a day they refer to it as a corkscrew."

"Are you able to train others to fly like you do?"

"Given the right equipment, I guess so."

"Well that is good, you're flying skills would be a perfect addition to Jurai and GP."

"Excuse me but I have some rather bad news." Kanemitsu started, echoing what he told Seina on Seto's queue "Unfortunately the fact that he's an earthling prohibits him from joining the GP. We cannot disrupt the natural progression of a technologically inferior planet, Sorry but safety first. You are ill-prepared as you know nothing of life outside your own solar system, or the inherent dangers involved in space travel. But don't worry we will see you safely back to earth. And in accordance with deportation by-laws we must erase your memories"

Ji hung his head for a moment before straightening up in determination. "This as you call it, unprepared earthling from a technologically inferior planet, sure seems to have a skill and ability that you seem to be lacking in, so much for your superiority in that regard huh?"

"There have been a few exceptions…" Seto starts before the conversation turned too heated for her liking. "It's rare, but there have been a few cases in which the law was over-turned."

"And here comes the catch… So what would be the reason that the law gets overturned in my case?"

"Well now, the way you broke out of the rejuvenation chamber, what can you tell me about it?"

Frowning somewhat Ji began to tell what he knew. "Well, it's something I've been able to do since I was fifteen. I can call up this energy from deep within me and draw it out. Usually I focus it out around my clenched fist to create an energy blade. It takes a lot of concentration and energy out of me. It doesn't have a temperature as far as I can tell but so far it's been able to cut anything I've had it come into contact with. Why I have it, or where it came from I wouldn't be able to tell you."

"Alright you must promise me that you won't tell anyone about what I'm about to tell you." Seto paused for a moment until Ji had nodded and given his promise. "To us, what you used is known as Light Hawk Wings. A purely energy based construct of tremendous powers, its primary use is as a defensive shield capable of repelling virtually any attack but as you have obviously found out yourself that can also be used as an offensive weapon with devastating results. The generation of which requires a phenomenal amount of energy which with a few notable exceptions only Juraian royal tree ships are able to create. The fact that you can generate even a small one as a blade on your own identifies you as Juraian royalty."

"What!?" Ji exclaimed as his mouth hung open. Thoughts were running through this mind as he was starting to grasp what he had just been told. He was royalty. Being so poor by his own choice that he only had the clothes on his back along with what would fit within his backpack, and working day to day to feed himself before becoming part of the GP, he was royalty. But if he was a royal from some alien species, then was his sister too? And did this come from his mother's side or from his father's side? Did they even know before they passed? Ji heaved a deep sigh. "How is this even possible?"

Kanemitsu fielded that one. "It is quite possible that somewhere one of our lost royals came to earth and started a family there, there are plenty of cases where some of us would flee to primitive worlds for one reason or another and breed with the local population. Sadly we wouldn't be able to track down how many generations ago this may have been the case. Regardless, what matters now is that you are a member of the royal family, even if we do not know which specific branch."

"Well it's not like it matters. I'm a royal with barely a dime to my name, and unless the GP can cure me, I'll be dead soon."

"Healing you is a rather easy task however my Doctors have merely stabilized your condition for now, and estimated that you have about a month left. They were hesitant to do more with fact that you are an earthling."

"And curing me would violate the non-interference with primitive's law." Ji finished for Seto.

"Correct, it is a good thing that you used your light hawk wing when you did as my doctors didn't bother with a genetic analysis so this information would have never come to light and I wouldn't be able to offer you what I am going to offer you now." Seto took a moment to grab Ji's attention and also to unfold her fan and cover her lower face with, glancing over it with somewhat predatory eyes. "Because you are as you claim without a family, I would like to adopt you into mine as my son. This would effectively nullify the interference law while also being able to sponsor your entry into the GP academy and believe me, being recognized royalty has its advantages."

Ji couldn't believe what he was hearing. Sure he abandoned and disowned his own family by his own free will. But why on earth would this lady want him? And adopt him no less? What was her angle? "Lady Seto, I am a little confused by your offer so forgive me for bluntly stating my current thoughts; why would you, someone who looks young enough to be my daughter, possibly think or even consider adopting me as a son? You barely know me!"

Seto for her part just started to chuckle "Oh my, you sure know how to flatter a lady." She raised her fan higher to even hide her eyes from view.

Kanemitsu stepped up to him and started to whisper into his ear. "Members of the royal family are typically long loved. Though you wouldn't know it by looking, she is nearing six thousand years of age." This caused Ji to snap his head to look Kanemitsu in the eye. "Believe me, you are barely a child compared to her." Kanemitsu finally said without whispering as he moved back to stand at his usual spot, slightly ahead of Seto on her left flank.

"One of the reasons is quite simple." Seto contined as she lowered her fan a little to look into Ji's eyes again. "The Juraian royal family has 4 houses or branches if you will; the current Emperor of house Masaki, house Amaki, house Tatsuki and finally there is my house, House Kamiki. No one would be able to dispute the fact that you are also a Juraian royal from your ability to generate even a small light hawk wing. But this would raise the question which house you would belong to. You could start the house of Nanashi, at best you would be viewed as a minor house with the other houses trying to take advantage of you at every turn, or at worse it could seriously disrupt the current balance of the empire. This is something I would like to avoid, hence my offer to adopt you."

"And what if I don't want to be adopted?"

"I myself am considered a very influential figure in galactic politics; this is primarily due to my active campaign against crimes like piracy which benefits every society. It would be irresponsible of me if I were to allow someone such as you to threaten the current peace and stability in the empire."

Clenching his first Ji spoke tersely. "So my choice is become your son or you will sign my metaphorical death warrant…"

"I wouldn't have put it so dramatically but yes, I would erase your memory and have you sent back to earth and in 30 days time you would be dead. It would be no different than executing you here on the spot but sending you back is the lesser of two evils." Seto took that moment to close her fan as a sign of sympathy crossed her face. This gave Ji time to think a little. A few minutes passed as he organized his thoughts "I wouldn't want to rush you, but the time that your transport must depart is nearing. Have you made a decision?"

"Perhaps… I might not be versed in galactic politics but I am pretty sure that my adoption into your family will also represent a minor shift in the balance and stability of the empire."

"Your Insight is correct." Minaho took that moment to reply. "Compared to you starting house Nanashi, adopting you into house Kamiki is a very minor thing. That and when compared to returning you to earth and letting you die adoption is the lesser of two evils, however necessary those evils might be."

Nodding slowly at Minaho, Ji looked to Seto. "Heh… Hope is a funny thing… My death was assured to me, I was ready for it, waiting for it. That started to change after I signed that application and woke up aboard that cruiser. If you had asked me before then, I would have declined your offer."

"And what about now?"

"And now I want to continue living. I'm not sure if I make for good royalty however I will accept your offer, Mother."

With a triumphant smirk Seto stood up from her throne to stand before him. "Welcome to my family, Ji Kamiki Jurai." With that she wrapped her arms around the much taller Ji, welcoming him with a hug which Ji returned in a somewhat unsure fashion. Behind him he could hear the operators go to work, no doubt changing information around in accordance with the verbal adoption. "Now tell your mother how it is that you are so tall?" asked the 155 centimeter tall women as she looked up at her newly adopted 198 centimeter tall son.

"On my world it is already widely known that the people of my, I suppose now former, nationality are on average the tallest people on earth, men averaging around 185 centimeters and women around 170 centimeters. The latest studies have shown that natural selection has been the biggest reason, being tall is equal to being more athletic, successful and healthy. Many educated men start families after their studies, fast-forward a couple of years with length being very heritable and the result is a nation of giants."

Meanwhile as Ji and Seto were sharing a hug and explanations about his size Minaho and Kanemitsu moved closer together. "He has no idea what is in store for him." Whispered Minaho.

"Given that Lady Seto got Seina married to his eight wife's, nine if you count Fuku, now imagine what she would do to her own adopted son." Kanemitsu whispered back.

"I wouldn't be surprised if she would get him 16 wifes" the two whisperers would nod to each other. Quickly breaking apart as Ji finished his explanation which made Seto turn to them.

"Well now that that is over with; Kanemitsu please guide my son to the medical wings, the doctors will be very busy restoring his body. Minaho, contact the cruiser and have them transfer my sons belongings aboard then set course for the GP academy. After which you can help me select the perfect servants to attend to my sons every need!"

"Servants!?"

"Of course son, I won't have any son of mine go hungry nor do any house work on his own, loyal servants make life a breeze for royalty!"

As Kanemitsu started to guide him out, Ji just face palmed as he followed. "Aww man… what have I gotten myself into?"

Ji's muttering made Kanemitsu to snicker. "Come your highness, the royal physicians are eagerly awaiting your arrival with your cure."

"Oh shut up…" lamented Ji which just made Kanemitsu laugh.


	4. Chapter 4: No need for Social Status

Do I really need to add a disclaimer to this? Think the URL of this website is evidence enough that I don't own jack.

* * *

It was a good thing that Seto ordered the Mikagami to take over delivering Ji to the GP academy. The GP cruiser was toast, the damage to its drive section being too severe for a temporary patch job. She would get a tow back to a space dock where the drive section could be rebuilt.

While the Mikagami set its course for the GP academy, Ji was getting the undivided attention of the royal physicians. He was given a sedative at the start of the operation before being injected with nano-machines that would eradicate the cancer cells and repair any other damage that they could find inside of his body. Nutrient solutions were administered to his blood stream to give the nano-machines the materials required for their work. And quite a bit of work they had indeed, aside from the spreading cancer, there were little things like the joints in his right knee and ankle, his eye sight. They were afterthoughts next to the life threatening cancer but when you are dealing with Royalty, even if they were adopted into it, you'd tended to do your best.

The head Doctor, the very same one that griped about Ji's destruction of the rejuvenation chamber, was happy that he hadn't objected to being sedated. While effective, the nano-machines didn't do their work pain free. That and in his experience royals certainly didn't curtail their complaints. Especially not with how aggressively the Nano-machines were combating the cancer all throughout his body. It was a small miracle that the cancer hadn't spread to the brain yet.

The full procedure took over 12 hours and by the end of it they had placed Ji inside a new Rejuvenation chamber for the night. Waking up during the night, Ji saw a 'get well soon' card standing in front of the chamber on a small trolley. With a small smile Ji was just content to go back to sleep while free floating in the chamber, feeing quite tired still.

In the morning however when he woke up again, he had glanced upwards to notice the latch on the inside of the chamber. He reached up and pulled on it which popped the chamber open and a small alarm started to go off. Not loud enough to offend anyone's ears, but just enough to notify whatever medical staff that was about, which turned out to be a good thing as he couldn't manage to climb out on his own.

Pretty young nurses came to his aid and hoisted him out, they took good care of him in his currently weakened state helping him shower off all the liquid from the chamber that was still clinging to him and covering him with an extravagant looking bathrobe. They had even come out with a wheel chair to bring him to the bed room he was temporarily assigned. Though it couldn't really be called a wheel chair in the traditional sense as this chair had no wheels to speak off, it was just hovering a constant distance from the ground. Being too tired to argue, Ji let him be guided into it and 'wheeled' off. Even if the nano-machine did all the hard work, it still took a toll on the body so plenty of rest was still needed.

Arriving at his quarters, he was greeted by 4 pretty young women. "Lord Ji, we have been assigned by lady Seto as your personal maids." One of them with short brown hair in a bob cut that was short in the neck but got down to shoulder length in the front and square rimmed glasses behind which her irises of the brightest emerald color Ji had seen spoke as she stepped forwards. "If there is anything you require of us, you have but to ask." She said before looking down a bit and getting a slight tint just under her eyes. "Anything…"

The implication there made Ji's eyes widen for a moment. "N-no…" he stammered before getting his thoughts together he coughed into his fist to compose himself. "Each and every one of you looks beautiful and I'm sure that you will make any future husband a very happy and lucky man. However I can assure you that something like **that** will not be required of you." His words seemed to cause equal amounts of relief and disappointment in their expression, something he couldn't understand but he didn't touch upon it. Looking over the other maids; the second one was slightly shorter than the first with bright blond hair being coiled behind her to form what looked like 5 drill like coils, her eyes were sapphire blue. The third and forth were twins, smaller then the first two maids by a small bit but hair in a dark green with eyes like rubies. "For now it would like to retire to my bed, and to know your names."

Thanking the nurse as the maids took over the hovering wheel chair they led him into his room. Ji had to whistle at how extravagant it was, let alone the wide open space. Its surface area was easily twice the size of his old single bedroom apartment. The bed looked to be a bit wider then a king size but its length seemed slightly shorter then what he was used too. Being wheeled up beside the bed, the maids started to fuss over him with trying to help him from the chair into the bed. He slowly stood up on his own only to flop down on his back onto the back. Then with some difficulty he shifted himself fully onto the bed using his forearms and heels to dig into the mattress. Lying on the bed now at a slight diagonal angle so that his heels didn't hang over the foot of the bed, he took a few of the pillows by his head and handed them to the maids to take away until he was left with a total of three, one under his head, then one on either side. "Are you sure about the pillows Lord Ji?" asked the one Maid that was wearing glasses

"Quite sure," Ji nodded "And if you want you are free to take one of them to your own bed, for I really don't know what I should be doing with eight of them."

"That wouldn't be proper; they were made specifically for you and your bed here."

Ji gave a loud chuckle at that "Honestly, the bed is slightly too short for me to lay in it straight, too many pillows further complicates that. Besides this one pillow is thick enough so that I can sleep comfortably with it, anymore would make it uncomfortable." The other 3 maids took a moment to come back from wherever they had taken the pillows too. They soon came to a stop to flank the one Ji was speaking to. Before Ji could ask for their names Seto took that moment to enter the room with Minaho and Kanemitsu in tow.

"Ah here you are my son, I trust the physicians were good to you." Seto said as she threw her arms wide.

"Good enough to cure my body along some other problems I was experiencing too; on the whole I give them my compliments on a job well done."

Lowering her arms Seto walked towards the bed until she reached it only to sit down on the side of it. It was then that she noticed how Ji was laying slightly diagonal on it causing her to narrow her eyes. "This bed is slightly too small for you I see. I should order you one custom made."

Shaking his head Ji laid his right hand on Seto's left. "No need for that mother. I'm quite used to sleeping in beds not quite made for my length. Besides I'll soon be sleeping in quarters assigned by the academy, so making a fuss about my bed now would be rather pointless."

This didn't quite satisfy Seto of course. "Non-sense, as royalty you are entitled to staying at a private home rather than those boring dorms they have. I will be buying a comfortable mansion for you to stay in while you are training, and transferring the new bed to there as well."

"Mother, please don't. I don't wish to be treated differently while at the academy despite my status. The only way to properly learn my new career is to be free of such influence, and that includes having to spend time in the dorms with my fellow students."

"I can't do that my son. It would be a gift from me to you."

Ji sighted deeply as he thought about it. "I don't wish to seem ungrateful to you mother, but can't you instead just gift something else, like aren't robots and artificial intelligence advanced enough to create humanoid robots? Give me one of them to help me while at the dorms instead and save the gift of real estate and property until after my graduation."

It was Seto's turn to sigh. "Very well however in exchange I would like for you to think up design requirements for a ship to use along with your flight skills, you'll be using that to teach the first batch of pilots of my selection."

"Well ok, but because I will be teaching without any other people able to do it, make the first batch of pilots no more then 20, but allow me the ability to kick any one of them out of the training program."

"Kick them out?" Seto asked, not really happy with that condition.

"Yes, kick them out. Simply put, not everyone is cut out for this type of flying. Be it unable to grasp the materials or skills required. Also someone's conduct is vital too, sure someone might be royalty or the offspring of someone that is influential, but none of that will get you through training or especially actual combat."

"Very well, we have a deal." Seto said once as she patted Ji's hand with her right hand as it lay upon her left "For now I wish for you to sleep and rest, we shall be arriving at the GP academy by tomorrow afternoon."

"Looking forward to it Mother." Ji replied with a nod as he pulled his hand back and started to shift over so he was laying on his left side, pulling his legs in slightly to be in a loose fetal position. It didn't take long for him to drift off to sleep.

In the background, Kanemitsu and Minaho had already moved out of the room with the maids standing to the side at one wall waiting for any orders besides what they had already received.

Seto smiled down at her sleeping son before she turned to head out of the room, gesturing for one of the maids to follow her. The maid closed the door behind her as quietly as possible. "Tell me Akane, what did you do with all the other pillows that were on the bed?" Seto asked once the door was closed and the maid had turned to her.

"Lord Ji asked us to take them away as he didn't want them, going as far as to offer them to us to use." Akane, the maid with the bob cut and glasses answered. "Pardon me for saying so my lady, but Lord Ji doesn't strike me as a typical noble."

"Oh? And why do you say that?"

"Lord Ji so far has not demanded for things, instead putting them as requests as though we are not obligated to serve his every whim. Even in a weakened state, it almost seems that he does not want to be a burden to us servants while it was quite obvious to us that he was struggling to get into the bed and get comfortable." Seeing her ladies thoughtful look Akane bowed "I apologize if my words offended my lady, it is merely an observation."

Seto dismissed it with a wave. "No matter, He has only been a noble for a short while. His attitude is likely to change as he gets used to his new social status. Continue you previous duties."

As Seto turned her back to head back to her own room, the maid bowed to her until she was out of eye sight after which she quietly entered her Lords room again to join her fellow maids. They took turns watching over him

* * *

The following day saw the tailor Seto had onboard complaining about some of Ji's requests. Most offensive of which was the request for denim jeans and light denim blouse. Behind Seto, Ji was just closing the buttons on his wrists with a smirk as his mother was trying to get the tailor to calm down. While she had hoped that her now son would adopt a more regal looking state of dress, she couldn't deny that he looked to be way more at ease and comfortable in his current outfit as a sturdy pair of work shoes completed the outfit, the footwear being the only thing on his person that benefited from current day clothing materials.

Looking ahead Ji marveled at the splendor that was the GP academy. 3 giant rings that almost looked like an atom without its nucleus. "Wow…. It's huge"

"That is an understatement" Kanemitsu said as he comes to a stop next to Ji. "The GP academy, each of its three connecting rings is as large as a solar system."

"So we are docking there?"

"In a manner of speaking, it's not every day that a royal tree ship visits this station. So they have no doubt prepared a very special welcome for us."

This caused Ji to groan slightly which set Minaho to giggle. "Don't worry about it, we'll be transporting you to the designated arrival area, you'll have to pass through immigration. The captain of that cruiser will guide you from there."

"Well… thanks…"

"We are almost in range my Son. Are you excited to begin your new career?"

Spin around to face his mother, Ji nodded "excited and eager."

Putting a hand on Ji's shoulder, Seto started to lead him to where the captain was by the transporter pad. "Here he is Captain Warren, I trust you'll guide him through Immigration without any problem." She said with a tone that didn't broker any argument and a little hint of a lot of pain should he fail.

"Of course Lady Seto, I will do my utmost to accomplish my assigned task."

"Very well, then I shall leave him in your capable hands. Now Son, I have prepare a robot helper as we agreed upon, you'll find him along with your luggage once you get settled into the dorms."

"Right, thank you mother, I'll try and call you once every two weeks to let you know how things are going." JI bowed at that after which he followed Warren onto the teleport pads.

He braced himself slightly as the pads activated, not really know what to expect but in a flash of green light he found himself in a somewhat busy area with grass and a few trees, various people of different species were going along their business with several children playing. Warren meanwhile had stepped up to a terminal to receive a small slip of paper. "Well it could be a while until they call our number, would you like a snack?"

"No thanks, I've already had a big breakfast aboard the Mikagami." Sitting down at a vacant table the tall earthling looked around some. Mostly people watching, he found it funny to note that whole some people around looked quite alien, like the ones whose face looked like a canine's, they were just people. The children around played around just like children on earth no matter their species even if their toys seemed a lot higher-tech then on earth. Time passed as it always did while you were waiting, slower than two snails in a race.

About an hour later Warren stood up and stretched. "Well that's our number, let's go Cadet Ji."

"Right."

Being led to a small booth that was displaying a number above the screen, Warren opened the door and gestured for him to enter which he did after which Warren himself entered and closed the door behind him. "We've got a special case for you. Ji Kamiki Jurai." He said while laying the application form down on a table.

Ji jumped a little as the application form dematerialized only to rematerialize on the other side of a glass window. Where a woman with dark green hair and yellow eyes took it and started to process it. A computer voice eventually announced 'inspections complete, immigration approved' Accompanied by a glass door to the side of the booth to slide open.

"Welcome Ji Kamiki Jurai, I'm Airi Masaki, chair woman of the GP academy." The woman said as she bowed to the tall man. "Warren, you are dismissed for now."

Warren himself didn't wait to excuse himself as Ji stood there with slight suspicion on his eyes.

"Chair woman, isn't immigration a bit of a menial job for someone of such a high position?" he asked bluntly.

Airi just giggled "That is true but it was the best way to meet you. And some of us have high expectations for you and your skills."

"Of course they do." Ji dead panned. "So what's next?"

Airi guided him out of the boot and into the station proper. "Well first we have to get you probed and scanned, after which I can give you a guided tour of the academy, unless of course you'd prefer someone younger to show you."

Realizing that the road ahead was landmine territory Ji shook his head. "No Miss, you hardly look a day over 20, were you any younger looking I would become worried about people labeling me as some old pervert."

Instantly it was obvious that he had said the right thing as Airi blushed slightly "Oh in that case I'll give you my very special private tour, as the chair woman I know all the nooks and crannies." The broach on her chest took that moment to pulse and beep "Oh. Wait right here for a moment." She'd call over her should while she happily skipped ahead.

Giving a deep sigh Ji found a pillar to lean against with his arms crossed as he waited. He glanced around a bit taking in the scene before him until he heard someone clear his throat. "Ji Kamiki Jurai, is that you?" Glancing over to the person that was addressing him Ji was met by a man, shorter than him with ping hair of all colors that was holding his nose so high in the air; he had to look vertically up. "I despise earthlings, every one of them. First we had that oaf Seina Yamada making a mockery of just the Academy but now you show up and make a further mockery of it by getting adopted into the royal family no less. I heard you made quite a name for yourself already with your piloting ability; how such a backwater world like earth could produce someone of you is quite a mystery to me."

Already hitting a nerve just by his annoying voice, Ji just went for broke and fired off the first thing that came to mind. "Probably the same way they produced someone so sort with pink hair like you. So you feel like trading a few more insults there girly man or are you going to provide me with your own name, pinky."

"Oh how funny the little earthling is able to battle verbally and here I thought they were just barbarians. Very well earthling, I am Seiryo Tennan, former GP academy instructor yet even now still your better." Ji just started to chuckle at that. "What is so funny earthling!?"

"Here I am, barely a recruit, getting accosted by an old has been. What's next, you start to regale me with tales from the time when you were at your prime? You need a lot more wrinkles and grey hairs to pull that off pinky."

"Why I shou~" whatever Seiryo was going to say was cut off by a women with long blue hair and blue eyes cracking him in the back of the head while she held onto a child with purple hair.

"Stop bothering the earthling dear, you know that didn't end well the first and second time you did so." The women spoke sternly before turning to Ji and continuing in a lighter tone. "I'm sorry about my husband, he's had such a chip on his shoulder about your race ever since he was truly humiliated by two others."

"Nothing I couldn't handle ma'am" Ji said with a polite bow which made the women look very self conscious.

"Erm right, I'm Kyo Komachi Tennan, and this little munchkin here is our 1 year old daughter Murasaki."

"Sorry to keep you waiting Ji," Came the call of an excited Airi as she came up to him. "oh Kyo," she said happily followed with a less then happy "And Seiryo," before switching back to a pleasant tone of voice as she was addressing the blue haired women. "What brings you here?"

"Oh we are on vacation; we are transiting here to our final destination." The conversation from there on went on about their child and several other things which Ji just didn't understand.

He just remained leaning against the pillar with his arms crossed as the women folk kept up their banter. With Seiryo standing beside him looking more and more confused between Kyo and Airi. "Hey, Earthling."

"What you want Pinky?"

"Is your primitive brain able to follow the conversation at all?"

"Nope, is pink covered superior neo-cortex able to?"

"… it is not…"

Silence ruled between the two men until Ji spoke again. "No matter how primitive or advanced the civilization, the men just can't follow along two women once they get going."

"On that…" Seiryo started reluctantly "we can agree..."

* * *

Patience had won out; an announcement that notified everyone of a transport beginning its boarding process brought a stop to the conversation between the two women. Quick goodbyes were said before they moved on. At which time Airi guided Ji to a place to put the finishing touch on him for the day. Being led to a changing room with an outfit, Ji changed as requested but came out a bit confused with the uniform being a bit loose on even his tall frame.

"Are you sure that this is the correct outfit? I don't think it's my size."

"Easy." Airi reacted as she pointed to the yellow gem on her chest.

Looking down at his own chest, Ji poked the green gem that was on his outfit this instantly caused the outfit to morph to conform to his body with a hiss. "Wow what?" Ji exclaimed as the action startled him but he then tested out the fit. The colors didn't suit him much, baby blue pants with a baby blue and white shirt, orange tie. At least the navy blue undershirt was comfortable if somewhat skin hugging.

"I love a man in Uniform. The model you are wearing is even better than the standard model; with a simple flick of a switch you can change the color, design and texture of any outfit. It can generate special energy fields and render aid during medical emergencies. Best of all it promotes sweat absorption."

"Cool, this beats the pants off anything we have on earth."

"Well I have a whole spiel about how earth doesn't have much fashion sense but I believe that after having to endure Seiryo's earthling bashing you can do without it."

"I thank you for your consideration, Miss Airi."

"Now then" Airi stood up and gestured towards the door. "Let's get you situated in your dorm room, you'll have quite the day ahead of you no doubt."

"Right."

After a few minutes of walking and several teleports with more walking inbetween, Airi came to a stop next to a door. "Well this is you, you'll have two roommates who are considerably younger then you until you graduate, I hope that's no problem for you."

"As long as they don't snore loud enough to wake the dead, I'll be fine."

"Well take care recruit, have a good evening."

Ji Snapped a smart salute. "And a good evening to you chair woman Airi." With a chuckle Airi left. Ji held the salute for a little until Airi was a respectable distance down the corridor after which he relaxed and pressed the button beside the door. A chime went off and the door promptly slid open. The room past the door was dark so Ji tentatively entered "Anyone home? Hello?" feeling around the corner of the wall with his right hand caused some frustration. "Where is the light switch in here?" The door of course chose that moment to slide shut behind him, trapping him in darkness. "Ah crap…"

The light came on without warning and some fire crackers went off scaring him into ducking low to the ground.

"Welcome your royal highness!" two voices shouted excitedly. As the smoke and particles from the fire crackers cleared, the sight of two figures dressed in the recruit uniform became visible.

A somewhat smaller lad who looked to be about 18 with yellow hair and red eyes bowed first "I'm Hamzah Gardner, but you can call me Hamzah"

Next to Hamzah a Wau with white fur and back hair on his head took a bow. "And I'm Edgar Abel your highness"

Standing up straight and towering over both, due to his natural height, Ji frowned. "You guys are pulling my leg on your names aren't you?"

"Not at all your highness." Hamzah replied with conviction. "We would never try to mislead you."

"That's right, we might have weird names but they are ours." Edgar added onto that.

"Ok… well my name is Ji Kamiki Jurai, and first off drop the royalty crap effective right now, I don't want that kind of treatment while I'm just as much a recruit as the both of you are."

"Are you sure about that? You look so much older than us."

"Quite sure Edgar, I might look a bit old and grey but I'm only forty."

"Oh wow, forty-thousand years of age, I hope I look that good when I reach your age." Ji looked at Hamzah sideways like he had grown a second head.

"Not forty-thousand just forty, for people from earth that's close to the halfway point in our life span."

"Oh sorry." Hamzah apologized.

"By the way, they already brought your luggage and your NB reasoning unit. Its right over there" the Wau pointed to the right side of the room. "Though I've never quite seen one shaped like that before."

The shape being that of a female humanoid in a black maid outfit, moving closer to its Ji inspected it. "I see, so this is the thing Mother had prepared for me, well it'll sure make life easier for us here."

"I've never seen a model like this before, it has got to be a prototype customized to meet your primitive needs." Hamzah said as he looked around it. "Though it does look oddly cute, hey Ji you mind if I have a look at it? I'm curious as to what's on the inside of this thing."

"Ask a man if you can play with his toys when he hasn't even gotten a chance to play with them himself?" he answered in good humor. "Sorry Gardner, I'd rather you didn't."

Hamzah looked disappointed at that but Edgar only laughed. "Well let me show you around our pad."

* * *

After having been shown the very convenient shower that didn't use water and you didn't have to undress for and how the door worked, along with how to get hold of food that literally popped into being from thin air it seemed, Ji was having a look at his NB Reasoning unit. It looked almost like a doll the way it just stood there and not move. Picking up a data pad that was laying on top of his stuff, two metal crates that contained a myriad of things among which more data pads and the outfit he wore while on the Mikagami, he started to read though the content of it. Among it was a description of some of the other pad's contents along with how to activate his NB unit.

On the other end of the room Edgar and Hamzah were watching some lame standup comedy. Where the punch line is "gimme a break will ya" over and over again. If only he was sure that jokes translated well into other languages, he'd introduce them to some of Earth's comedians. Shaking his head he just picked the spots on his NB unit as shown in the data pad. The effect of which was immediate.

"Oh I've been activated…" came a very light and kind voice from the unit as it looked around the room. "Where am I?"

"You are in my dorm room at the GP Academy." Ji answered as he stood behind the maid bot. his speaking of course caused the Maid outfit wearing NB unit to turn around to face him.

"Oh, Lord Ji, I was commissioned to serve you by your adoptive mother, Lady Seto Kamiki Jurai. I will try to assist you to the best of my abilities."

The kind voice of the NB unit attracted the attention of Edgar and Hamzah of course. Who were not ignoring the show they were watching. "I'm sure you'll do fine." Ji said. "And please don't call me lord, it makes me uncomfortable."

The NB unit curtsied at that "As you wish, Master."

It wasn't what Ji had hoped for but it was a start. "So what do I call you?"

"Anything you wish Master."

Ji had to think about it for a while. "I think… I'll call you Yasashi."

Yasashi nodded at that "Your selection has been stored. I am now Yasashi."

"Damn," started Edgar. "He's so lucky."

"Yeah, I wish I had a maid like that call me master." Hamzah agreed.

Looking over Yasashi towards his roommates, Ji smirked for a moment. "Yasashi, meet my room-mates. Hamzah Gardner, and Edgar Abel." Ji said as he pointed each of them out. The two of them were all smiles and said a friendly hi to Yasashi. "And you don't have to listen to anything they say." Ji added which quickly caused the two's smiles to drop.

"So cruel!" the humanoid and Wau exclaimed in unison.

This wailing was interrupted by a sharp beeping and the holo screen disappearing. Instantly Edgar and Hamzah stood up and saluted. as the holograms of a man and a woman showed themselves where the holo tv was been. Stepping around Yasashi, Ji moved to stand between his room-mates before also saluting.

"Edgar Abel, Here."

"Hamzah Gardner, Here."

"Ji Kamiki Jurai, Here."

"Right," said the hologram of the man "Initiating identity scan." As this was going on, the women looked over the data before glancing up at Ji, looking at the older man sternly. "Good you are all present."

From this point the women took over. "Tomorrow is the entrance ceremony. Be sure that you are all rested." From there two holograms saluted which the people in the room, minus Yasashi returned.

After the holograms dissipated, Edgar and Hamzah slumped into their seats. "It might be routine, but role call still is nerve wrecking."

"You got that right, I could hardly keep myself from fidgeting." Agreed Hamzah with his Wau room-mate

Ji just shrugged "I don't see what the big deal is, but I'm sure you'll both get used to it." with that he turned towards his bed and Yasashi.

"Hey where are you going?" Edgar wondered as he put his hand on Ji's shoulder. "The night is still young you know?"

"Oh I know, I just thought I would read some of the data my Mother left for me."

"But that's boring, night time is party time!" Hamzah said as he tried to pose pseudo heroically "And I have the inside track to the best parties and all the babes!"

"Well you boys have fun with that. Personally I am way past the partying age. I actually need my nights rest or I'll be cranky the whole day tomorrow."

"Oh boy… Just our luck to get stuck with a square," Griped Edgar. "C'mon your royal boringness, live a little! You only go to the academy once!"

"Sorry Abel, I'll pass. You and Gardner have fun though. Just try to be quiet when you get back."

* * *

After a few minutes of prodding, Edgar and Hamzah just gave up and snuck out with just the two of them. Leaving Ji alone with Yasashi, the Robotic made would just stand in the corner out of the way and ready for any orders Ji might have for her. "Master, you are aware that it is unlikely that your room mates will come home quietly."

"I'm actually counting on that being the case." Ji said as he ordered some ear plugs. They popped out onto the table and he took them to show to Yasashi. "Which is why I ordered these."

"Very prudent, Master."

Dressing down to his underwear, Ji lid down in his bed and did some more light reading, His feet peeking out from underneath the blanket as they stick out over the edge of the bed. It took a good while before the desire to sleep struck and with a yawn he rolled over onto his side as he put the datapad away. "well that's it, good night Yasashi."

"Sleep well Master." Yasashi curtsied again as she went to stand in one of the corners strategically so she could observe both her Master and the room's entrance.

As Ji lay on his side, he pushed the earplugs into his ears before laying his head on his arm. Putting the pillow on top of his head to block out the light, choosing to keep it on for when his room-mates came home. It wasn't long until sleep claimed him.


	5. Chapter 5: No need for School

Do I really need to add a disclaimer to this? Think the URL of this website is evidence enough that I don't own jack.

* * *

It was the morning of the entrance ceremony, thanks to the diligent work of the ear plugs and Yasashi, Ji hadn't been disturbed in his sleep. For Edgar and Hamzah it was a less thrilling experience of being threatened with castration by a metal sword that sprung from Yasashi's wrist the moment they entered. The experience was sobering enough that their half intoxicated state quickly cleared and they opted rather forcefully to quickly, but even more important quietly, retire for the evening.

As Ji woke up Yasashi had laid out his uniform for him, which he took with him as he went to the shower unit. He had asked her to prepare him some bacon and eggs along with a cup of coffee while he freshened up. His two room-mates woke up feeling ever so slightly hung over from their partying. Yasashi had the foresight to put a glass of water at the foot of their beds, but further requests from the two were promptly denied and ignored.

"Man, what good is having a maid bot around if you can't get her to do anything." Started Edgar.

"Yeah I mean preparing that glass of water was nice, but I was hoping for breakfast too." Agreed Hamzah.

It was at that point that Ji came back in dressed in his uniform and combing his hair back. "Why don't you two quit your bitching and be happy she even did that much for you on her own?"

"Your breakfast is ready, Master." Yasashi announced happily as she brought a plate and mug over on a tray.

With an bow of his head in thanks Ji took the tray saying "Thank you Yasashi." and took it over to the sitting area, once seated he first started with a sip of coffee before digging into his bacon strips and eggs.

The Wau among them with his canine nose sniffed the air, not recognizing the delicious smells he was picking up. "Hey Kamiki," Edgar started, using Ji's last name as he was doing with them. "What kind of meat is that? It smells good but I've never smelled it before."

"Its salt cured pork, we call it bacon on my world, it comes from a food animal that is local to it." Ji answered before following up with another bite of his bacon and eggs then following it up with a sip of his coffee.

"So what, did your mom import a lot of food stuffs from your planet?" Hamzah asked as he set down beside Ji and ordered his own breakfast.

"To be honest Gardner, I have no clue."

Yasashi stepped forward to provide the answer. "Actually Master, Lady Seto took the liberty to acquire a number of food items from earth and had them scanned at a molecular level. She took this information along with preparation instructions and uploaded them to my databanks allowing me to molecularly reconstruct them exactly as the day they were scanned."

Ji blinked at that while Hamzah and Edgar just quietly bemoaned their room-mate's luck. "So what you are saying is… that you are basically printing food for me from a blueprint."

"The proper term is molecular replication, but yes Master, I 'printed' your meal from a stored template."

"Well, my compliments to your databank and replication systems." Ji said which oddly enough caused the robotic maid to turn her cheeks a touch of red. It struck her owner as interesting when he saw it. For a robot Yasashi looked surprising life like with a full human face. The only thing that gave her robotic nature away was the red gem sitting on her forehead, hidden slightly by her black hair in a bob cut, along with how her purple eyes that slightly glowed.

"Thank you Master."

"Can we try some of that?" Hamzah's chosen meal was quickly forgotten while it was sitting before him.

"Yeah, my nose will keep bugging me about it if I don't satisfy my Wau instincts." Edgar pleaded, Looking quite pathetic with the way he was kneeling like a giant humanoid puppy.

"That's up to Yasashi." Answered Ji as he looked to her.

Yasashi for her part bowed and went about making two more sets of bacon and eggs. It didn't take long for them all to be quietly digging into their food. Though once the initial serving was done, request for more from Hamzah and Edgar were promptly ignored.

* * *

The GP academy grounds were in an almost festive mood. And the main hall where the ceremony was being held was quite spacious. Cadets were being divided up based on the color of their uniform. Currently Ji stood somewhere near the middle of his section surrounded by his fellow students, Hamzah and Edgar having scampered off to stand near their personal friends. Currently however his fellow students in his immediate area were looking at him oddly. He largely tried to ignore it as he kept looking towards the podium at the other side from the entrance. He recognized Airi standing there along with others which were no doubt the faculty of the academy. He also spotted the man and women that did the role-call yesterday.

When he saw a woman with dark skin, and blond almost yellow hair move towards the microphone he gave a small but crisp "Eyes front!" just loud enough for the people staring at him to hear, an instruction which they followed thankfully.

Up on the stage, head master of the GP academy Mikami Kuramitsu tapped the microphone once to make sure it was on before speaking. "Welcome everyone to the GP Academy, each of you have been chosen to join the most respected law enforcement institution ever created. The accomplishment of our esteemed alumni rest squarely on your shoulders, you will take that heritage and become the authors of the next chapter in this school's grand legacy. Our curriculum is of the highest standard, matched only by the caliber of the scholars who teach it. They will show you the path of knowledge, but only you find the greatness that dwells, not within these marble halls, but within yourselves. This is your time. Make the most of it. Good luck." Finishing on that, Mikami snapped into a salute which all the cadets returned.

For a moment Ji felt that the woman was laying it on kind of thick, but then again that was likely needed to motivate all these youngsters to achieve greatness. "And now the freshmen speech." Someone announced and Ji was relieved that it wasn't him being called up there.

* * *

After the ceremony was complete, Ji was called into the body enhancement medical section of the GP academy. A woman was waiting for him and this woman reminded Ji a lot of Mitoto. A short crop of blond, almost yellow hair with a slight mullet and two longer strands coming out at her bangs, Blue eyes like an oceanic planet and mocha skin, she smiled at him. "Ah Mister Kamiki, I'm Yoko Kuramitsu, I'll be your body enhancement operator."

Ji just smiled and shook her hand. "Ah pleased to meet you."

"This way please." Yoko said as she guided him to a private room where she started her briefing. "Our advanced method of body enhancement is a process by which nano-machines are implanted into the body to strengthen muscles and improve reflexes and adrenalin output. Endurance, healing ability and the rate of cellular mitosis are also greatly enhanced. The effects are extraordinary and substantially extend the subjects life span. Do you understand?"

"So basically I'd be stronger, faster, and healthier then anyone in my age group on my former homeworld?"

"You catch on pretty quick." Yoko smiles "You'll also live way longer than any normal earthling."

Thoughts of his adopted mother sprang to mind and her age which was being counted in millenniums. "That's… good… can it also help me with my bald spots and gray hair?"

"Well I would say that the grey hair suits you, but I'm sure we can do something for you in that regard. We've done the body enhancement process on a few other earthlings before so we know that it works. However you would be the first one at such an advanced stage in your planets life cycle to have undergone the procedure."

Ji ran his hand over his cheeks and chin. "Well I don't mind the wrinkles I already have too many; it's mostly the bald spots that bug me the most the rest would be bonus. Although I sure hope that my advanced age doesn't muck up the works."

"You needn't worry, I've never heard of anyone whose body failed the enhancement." Yoko said as she stepped up to him, pressing her body up against him in a not so subtle suggestive fashion "And if by chance something does go wrong, I'll take full responsibility and take care of you with all my heart."

This, advancement by someone Ji thought of as faculty here at the academy made him rather nervous and self-conscious. It was at that point that the door to the room opened to reveal Airi. So being caught with his pants down so to speak Ji started to panic talk a little "Oh hey. Chair woman Airi, you know Yoko Kuramitsu right? She was just assuring me that the body enhancement is safe and fool proof as evidenced by her own body hehehe…."

Airi of course narrowed her eyes at that "Indeed it is 'Yoko', I'm sure you'll take the utmost care of 'him', wouldn't want to disappoint 'Lady' Seto after all."

As the two women glared at each other, Ji decided that discretion is the better part of valor and slowly tried to ease out of bodily contact with Yoko and away from the both of them. The room after all felt like a powder keg to him just waiting for a spark, too bad that he didn't realize that he would be that very spark. "Where do you think your creeping off too!" both ladies shouted at him.

"No where! I-I Just need to find the bath room! See you young ladies in a moment!" he said as he rushed out the room, the slight compliment having thrown the both of them off with a slight blush so he could make a clean getaway.

As they were left alone Airi resumed her glaring at 'yoko'. "So… just what is the meaning of this 'Yoko'."

"Whatever do you mean Chairwomen Airi."

"Oh cut the crap Mikami, why are you using your none-public persona to be his enhancement operator?"

The youthful Yoko changed into the middle aged looking Mikami as her public facing illusion came into being. "Probably for the same reason that you are slotting yourself as his enhancement supervisor; Seina might be out of our reach with his 9 wives, but Ji isn't. Also I find him interesting; he's way taller than Seina. It's rare to find a man that can tower over women from the Kuramitsu family so he's quite the novelty. Surely his maturity is a bonus."

"So you just want to sleep with him!?" Airi almost screamed.

"Maybe even more then sleep, but who knows? I know I've been without a man for far too long. I'd say the same about you, isn't that why you wanted to be his enhancement supervisor?"

Airi blushed at that, being the youngest of the pair, she wasn't as secure in her personal desires. "T-that's not relevant!"

"Suit yourself dear; just know that I call dibs on him." Mikami smirked as her illusion faded away as she resumed her Yoko identity. "Now let's get to enhancing him shall we?"

* * *

Meanwhile in a near bathroom, Ji had a sneezing fit.

"Someone must be talking about you behind your back." A random Wau that was also using the facilities commented.

"Either that or I'm just getting a cold." Ji answered.

"The common cold is pretty much non-existant around here given the body enhancement treatment."

"Yeah my home-world doesn't have that, so I'm in the queue for enhancement right now."

"Wow, I can't imagine having to suffer through a cold, having a runny nose and all the sneezing."

"I bet it's a real dozy for a race like yours." He chuckled which the Wau joined in with. "Say, potentially weird question here and I don't mean to offend; The Wau, to people of my world, look like anthropomorphic canines. Is there also a race that looks like anthropomorphic Felines?"

The Wau had a short think about it before answer with; "That depends on what your planet is called?"

"Earth."

"Well I guess the closest example I can think of is the Mau. They are a bit rare and very territorial, but by and large they mostly keep to themselves if we stay out of their space."

Pulling his pants back up Ji inclined his head. "Thanks for the conversation."

"You too."

* * *

After waiting around a while, 'Yoko' and Airi were came to get him to start the enhancement procedure.

"So how do we do this? Do I just get into the tube?" JI asked as 'Yoko' got into the operators seat.

"Not exactly, first you have to strip." It was 'Yoko' that said it, but both she and Airi were looking somewhat eager.

There was a pause, a small twitch of a lower eye lid of Ji's right eye, before he exclaimed. "WHAT!"

"Don't worry I'm sure you have nothing to be embarrassed for." Airi encouraged. "Besides, everyone has to go through this."

JI sighed and resigned himself to his fate, Idly wondering if this was a form of hazing. Getting into a certain mental state, where he tried his best to ignore the fact that he was alone in a room with two women who he consider beautiful, he started to undress. With a deep swallow he dropped his underwear.

Airi and 'Yoko' both had to do a double take at seeing his body. There wasn't much muscular definition to him. But needless to say the one detail that they were most interested met their approval.

"Well now, time to get into the tube and face me." And Ji did so, getting into the tube and facing 'Yoko'. Airi stepped out and appeared on the otherside of a window to the right of 'Yoko'. The glass closed over him and Yoko started to work her instruments "We're about to start, raise your arms please."

"I'll support you from here." Airi noted. "Pumping in containment fluid."

As the liquid came up rapidly to his eye level Ji closed his eyes for a moment. Once he was fully submerged he opened them again to look out.

"Tank has been filled, all vital signs normal… except for his breathing."

"Mister Kamiki, you don't need to hold your breath. The liquid will allow your lungs to function normally." 'Yoko' encouraged as she noticed him holding his breath.

Ji opened his mouth and a puff of air came out before his lungs were filled by the containment fluid. It felt almost like he was scuba diving. Being underwater, the pressure would make you take deeper breaths as your lungs would have to fight that pressure to make your chest cavity expand when you breathed in. likewise breathing out while using scuba gear was a bit heavier as well as you had to overcome the water pressure to let the breath out of the mouth piece.

"And that takes care of that, ready to begin the body enhancement program!"

"Beginning program." 'Yoko' reported as the tank started to light up and glow while machinery started to do its job which was noticeable by an increase of noise level. "Process one, Enhancement level at specified input parameters."

"Induction confirmed."

"Beginning induced sleep, consciousness level decreasing; ninety, seventy, fifty." It was at this state that Ji lost consciousness.

Once he was sufficiently under, the procedure went into its second process; the actual enhancement. 'Yoko' had sufficiently modified the original programming to push back the effects of aging. On top of that, having his gray hair removed, revitalizing his hair growth to get rid of bald spots and to grow his hair a bit longer then what it was. 'Yoko' had set it up so the growth rate for 1 hours would make his hair almost twice as long. The problem was that all the work needed to push his physical aging back would make the procedure last for six hours and there was no way to stop the process safely once it got underway.

As those six hours ticked away with little else to do, the two woman looked on with fascination as while all access body fat was being burned off during the enhancement process it gave his body more muscular definition. Though both women would love to look at a man on display like Ji was. the effect was slightly ruined by the beard that was growing at the same rate obscuring his chest as it gained definition.

"Body enhancement program complete" was 'Yoko's announcement as the glow from the tank stopped.

"Enhancement-error detected within permissible limits." Airi confirmed from her booth.

"Awakening program activated, consciousness level increasing; Twenty, forty-five, seventy-two, ninety, one-hundred percent."

As Ji woke up, his field of vision was covered with hair. He tried to slick it back but found out that hair was still covering his face, which turned out to be the very long beard he was sporting. The liquid started to drain and he sank down with it. He laid there as the tank was completely drained and for some odd reason he couldn't move. 'Yoko' came and put a towel over him, after which Airi and 'Yoko' together they took care to dry off his body while Ji started to almost franticly do calculus in his mind. Anything to not react to these two touching and rubbing him 'down there' which he didn't quite manage as his mister happy could not help but start to react to the attention. Oddly enough this is exactly what 'Yoko' and Airi wanted, though they let him off easy by stopping and helping him into a weird black one piece suit that barely covered his legs or arms.

Whatever it was at this point that Ji started to slip in and out of consciousness. 'Yoko' and Airi didn't seem alarmed by this or the fact that he didn't have the ability to stand on his own so he himself didn't worry about it either. Then came the unenviable task of getting Ji to the spherical room. 'Yoko' hefted him up and slung him over her shoulder like a bag of potatoes. In another day and age, one might compare the sight to that of an Amazonian woman carrying off her prized husband to be.

Once inside the special training room, 'Yoko' gently laid Ji down and kneeled beside him. Lifting his head, she crept forward on her knees so that his head was resting in her lap, to the slight jealous looks of Airi, a look that was returned by a teasing one that bespoke something to the effect of 'you snooze, you lose'.

* * *

Peace and quiet, as Ji slowly started to wake up again, he felt content and comfortable. The only time he felt even close was when he was about half the age he was now. Opening his eyes he was greeted with a sight the puzzled him, there was a weird ceiling but even weirder were the globes that obscured his few. That was until a face peaked out past those two globes. "Hello Mister Kamiki, I'm glad you are awake" 'Yoko' spoke in a husky voice. Realization dawned as to why he was so comfortable; his head was in her lap. Ji wanted to bolt upright but instead he launched himself forward right into a wall.

'Yoko' just giggled as Ji groaned flattened against one of the side walls. Airi coughed into her hand. "Careful Ji, your strength and speed have been greatly enhanced. You need to relearn how to moderate your speed and strength."

"Right…" he answered as he tried to put his hands flat on the surface he was laying against to push himself up, tried being the operative word because instead of pushing himself away, he launched himself backwards bouncing off a few more walls before landing flat on his back.

Now Airi and Yoko both were giggling with the latter stating "Maybe we should active the load suit so he can try to get used to it gradually."

With a nod Airi pressed a control at her wrist, causing two gems on the black garment that Ji was wearing to blink and change color. "Try it now, the suit is putting a restricting load on your body so you should be able to move normally like you are used too."

With that Ji tried again, moving way more carefully then before but was amazed to find that he could indeed move without launching himself again. And he felt more limber and fit then he'd ever felt before. Remembering something from his youth, he rolled back, put his hands flat on the ground beside his head, then he rolled forward kicking his legs out and his knees bend so that his feet touched down, as soon as his feet touched he push off with his hands and bent his back forwards to continue the momentum at which put he pushed himself up. The action he just performed was called a kip-up. Martial artists often used it to get back onto ones feet when they were lying on their back.

"Impressive." 'Yoko' noted.

"It's pretty easy to do now that I feel as fit as a fiddle again."

"We may have you teach us." Airi smiled. "For now though we need to get you used to your new strength and speed. I've prepared a lot of exercises to do every day. And every day the suit will slowly let go of the load it's putting on your body so you can learn to control your newly enhanced body."

"Sure, upload it to Yasashi. She can help me keep track of the routine."

"Yasashi?" 'Yoko' wondered suspiciously.

"Yeah my NB reasoning unit, I named her Yasashi."

"Oh ok," Was the relieved response. "But don't forget to come to Airi or me if you have any problems at all."

"Of course Miss Kuramitsu." Came the reply with a slight bow, causing Ji to miss the slight twitch of 'Yoko's' cheek.

"Please. Call me Yoko."

"As you wish, Miss Yoko." Ji's politeness caused another twitch with 'Yoko' all the while Airi was giggling slightly.

"Well that's all for now Ji, you are free to return to your dorm. Just remember that you are currently exempt from physical training, your instructors will be notified of this."

"Thank you, good day to you Chair Woman Airi, Miss Yoko."


End file.
